Most of us have heard of the “good cholesterol” and “bad cholesterol” coursing through our bloodstream. In the conventional wisdom of the past 30 years, having more of the “good” variety — high-density lipoprotein, or HDL — can lower your risk of heart disease, while more “bad” cholesterol — low-density lipoprotein, or LDL — increases your risk.

Hematologists have long sought to reactivate fetal hemoglobin as a treatment for children and adults with sickle cell disease (SCD). Researchers at CHOP have manipulated key biological events in adult blood cells to produce a form of hemoglobin normally absent after the newborn period.

An international team of researchers, including several investigators from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Center for Applied Genomics, recently discovered a gene associated with a high risk of severe childhood asthma.